


we're known for this but we aren't broken

by mrsonmyr



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-12 04:16:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20156311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsonmyr/pseuds/mrsonmyr
Summary: You seem very private. Did you meet anyone when you were out here filming? Any on set flings? Rebecca Jacobson, your co-star has spoken very highly of you.I am private. I like to separate my work life and my personal life.So no girlfriend to tell us about?No. Definitely not.Adam Parrish is trying to balance his fame and his personal life.





	we're known for this but we aren't broken

The cool winds from the Pacific Ocean blow in off the shore to meet the stylish young actor who is sitting at a sleek coffee bar in Santa Monica. Adam Parrish, a name who you’ll be hearing a lot this Summer, is wearing acid wash denim and a grey knit sweater and impeccably clean loafers. He’s drinking an Americano and takes his sunglasses off when I approach his table. At 24, the young star is about to breakout in the new HBO show _ Fool’s Gold _produced by Reese Witherspoon, and he’s in talks to join the next upcoming Marvel movie. Right now is a good time to be Adam. With 3.6 million Instagram followers he seems distant. Only posting reminders about the show premiering on Sunday night and snapshots from red carpets. He’s very private about his past, a quality that most millennial stars don’t seem to have. 

**Adam, does this location bring back memories from filming Fool’s Gold?**

We actually filmed most of the show in North California in Sacramento but we filmed a lot of scenes on a soundstage in LA. So I’m definitely familiar with this area. Although, I do consider myself an east coast boy at heart. 

**You grew up in Virginia. Did you always know you wanted to break free and become a star?**

Oh gosh, no not really. I’m from a very small town where not a lot happened. The most exciting things happened because my friend dragged us all across our town on his secret history project. But there really wasn’t a great outlet for me back then. Not like it is for kids today who can film whatever they want and put it on Youtube. I wasn’t even in the school play. I stuck to myself a lot. Worked hard in school. Worked hard outside of school. I know how determined I can be when I set my mind to it. 

**What sets you apart from other young stars today posting shirtless selfies online?**

Ha ha, oh I don’t know. Not like I’ve never taken one before. I like this industry and I love acting and being able to work, but I’m not really caught up in it all. I like to go home. I like to leave the city, I like the quiet. I don’t think it’s built in me to stay out all night at a party and enjoy myself. 

**You seem very private. Did you meet anyone when you were out here filming? Any on set flings? Rebecca Jacobson, your co-star has spoken very highly of you.**

I am private. I like to separate my work life and my personal life. Rebecca was so amazing to work with on set, she’s such a pro and was so helpful and kind to me throughout this entire process. I’m forever grateful for her. 

**So no girlfriend to tell us about?**

No. Definitely not. 

-

Adam finished his interview and got in the back of the black sedan that his manager arranged for him. He finally gets to go home. It’s been a long few weeks promoting his new show. Being away from his home and family was hard, especially in California where he felt trapped. Paparazzi following him everywhere, drugs and alcohol being thrown around like it was nothing. Fame was not something Adam wanted to get used to. Once settled in the car he took out his phone and saw he had a few texts from his agent and from some from the Fool’s Gold group chat. He’d respond to those later. All he had on his mind was Ronan. He opened his Facetime and waited as it rang. 

“Hi baby,” Adam said as Ronan popped up after a few seconds. He said ‘baby’ but it sounded like ‘beebee’. 

Ronan smiled into the phone. “Hey, you done your interview?”

“Yep. Headed to the airport now. I should be home in six hours. Hope you’re ready for me.”

“God, yes. It’s been so lonely out here by myself.” 

“You’re not alone. You’ve got all those cows and chickens to keep you company.” Adam joked. 

Ronan lived at the Barns in Singer’s Falls, completely out of the way from any big city. The closest he gets to traffic is when he’s driving to DC to see Declan or when he’s dropping Adam off at the airport. 

“You need me to pick you up or did someone do that for you?” Ronan asks, putting his shovel down. He was outside shovelling hay into the barn. 

“I told Renee that you would come get me. So please do, or else I’ll have to take a cab. And I really don’t want to do that.”

“Sounds like someone misses the Beemer.”

“You’d die out here, Ronan. There are so many expensive cars. Next time I have to come out you should come too.” Adam suggests. 

Ronan never comes with him to anything. Never to any red carpet event, never to LA when he’s away for three months filming. The only time he comes with him is to New York to do a quick day or two of promotion and he sits in the hotel the entire time. And that's only if he can get someone to look after the animals. 

“We’ll see.” That’s always his response. That’s his ‘no’. 

Adam’s face drops a little and he looks out the window. “Okay, well I should go. We’re almost at the airport. I’ll see you soon and I’ll text you when I land. Love you.”

“Love you too.” 

They hang up. Adam opens his Instagram and sees everyone with overdone faces of makeup posing or advertising some slim tea. He scrolls for a few minutes before he closes the app and shuts his eyes. 

-

When Adam lands back in Virginia he turns his phone on and has a new text from his agent

_ Hey Adam, sorry this is short notice but a guest dropped out of Seth Meyers show tomorrow night so we got you booked in. We’ll need you in New York for tomorrow afternoon. I have a stylist ready for you who will meet you there. Let me know if Ronan needs a ticket booked. Xx _

Adam rubs his face. He’s never great on live television. Especially when he has to be himself and not a character. He exits the plane, goes through customs, and grabs his bag. Then he sees Ronan waiting out front. Adam is barely recognizable in his sunglasses and ball cap on but he can’t hide from Ronan. 

“Hey babe,” Ronan says and wraps his arms around him and kisses him quickly. They don’t do PDA. 

“It’s so good to see you. Feels like it’s been forever.” 

“Only a week.” Ronan says and takes his hand and they walk to the car. 

“Just so you know, I just found out, I have to go to New York tomorrow to be on a talk show. They’re flying me out cause it’s last minute, Renee said if you wanted to come she’ll get you a ticket.” 

Ronan grunts as he gets behind the wheel. There never seems to be a break. Adam’s always working, always leaving. 

“I don’t think I can come. Jared’s out of town this week so no one would be here to feed the animals.”

Adam knew that would be his answer. “Okay. That’s fine, it’s only a day so I’ll fly back once I’m done. Hopefully once the show comes out all the promo will slow down. I feel exhausted. I just want to lay in our bed.” 

“Well get ready because it is freshly washed and waiting for you.” Ronan reaches for Adam’s hand. 

-

Adam crashes as soon as they get home. Travelling always exhausts him, especially after a long day of trying to sound exciting enough during his interview that people will like Adam Parrish but still holding back his most valuable information. He doesn’t even hear Ronan crawl in next to him. 

The mattress keeps dipping and the sheets keep getting pulled when he wakes up at some ungodly hour. He waits a few seconds before he opens his eyes to see what’s causing the commotion. 

“Ronannnn,” Adam whines when he sees Ronan just flopping back and forth in bed. Wide awake. Staring at Adam.

“I’m trying to sleep. It’s been a week since I’ve had a good nights sleep can you please stop fucking around over there?”

“I got bored.”

“How long have you been awake?”

“Two hours.”

“What time is it?”

“7 am.”

“And you didn’t think ‘oh I should get up and let him sleep and go make him breakfast because I love him so much’?” 

“Well, I did think about doing that. But then I wouldn’t have been able to watch you sleep for two hours.”

“You’re the worst.” Adam rolls back over onto his side. 

“You _ love _me.” Ronan says wrapping his arms around him, pressing his face into Adam’s neck. 

Adam giggles. 

-

Adam snaps a picture of himself in the mirror in his green room and posts it to Instagram with the caption “_ watch me tonight on LNSM! First late night talk show! #vom #foolsgold” _

“Thank you so much for being here.” Seth greets him as they sit. 

“Thank you for having me. This is my first late night appearance.” Adam smiles and looks to the audience who cheers for him. 

“I remember seeing you in a few things before this but Fool’s Gold is your first big thing right? How did you tell your friends and family about it?” 

“Thanks. Yeah, I was really excited when they told me I got the show. I remember doing a million auditions and I was so excited to tell my friends back home. And my boyfriend is so supportive.” Adam’s brain short circuits. His one rule is to not mention his personal life. He doesn’t want people to start to invade his relationship. 

Seth smiles and asks, “has he seen the show yet?”

“No. No ones seen it yet. I think all of my friends will come over and we can watch it together. Even though I hate watching myself on screen.” 

“Really? Do you watch through your fingers?” Seth teases. 

Adam face reddens, “probably.” 

“So I’ve been told you live on a farm? Not very Hollywood of you.”

“Yes, I live back in Virginia where I grew up and I live on a farm. It’s so amazing to be able to get away from it all. And we have so many animals, it’s very humbling.” Adam laughs. 

“Well, thank you so much for being here. You can watch Adam this Sunday at 9 in Fool’s Gold on HBO.” Seth reaches across the desk to shake Adam’s hand.

-

“Hey just so you know I might have accidentally slipped that we are dating tonight on the show.” Adam says into his phone once he’s backstage in the green room changing out of his luxurious outfit the stylist picked for him. 

“What?” 

“Yeah, I really didn’t mean to. I know we said I’d keep everything private, which I really do but I wasn’t thinking.” 

“Did you say my name?”

“No...I think I just said my boyfriend. Or maybe I said my hot boyfriend I really don’t remember.” 

Ronan exhales. “It’s - it’s whatever okay? It’s fine. I’m sure no one really cares if you’re dating some guy anyway.” 

By the time Adam gets home Ronan is already asleep. The bedroom lights are on and his legs are spread out on Adam’s side of the bed. Adam quickly showers and puts on a pair of boxers and climbs into bed, curling his body around Ronan, trying his best not to disturb him. 

The orange light shining in from the window wakes Adam. He reaches across the bed to feel that it’s empty and cold, Ronan’s been up for a while. He grabs his phone that’s sitting on the bedside table and sees he has hundreds of notifications. He opens Twitter to see thousands of tweets and articles speculating about his new boyfriend. 

  


@chrisssso0o: omg tonight adam parrish said he has a boyfriend????? I ship him with tyler from fools gold #tadam 

  


Adam Parrish's Mystery Man? Click the link to find out who he is!

  


He closes the app before he can start to panic. Ronan will never find out because he doesn’t use the internet, but what if someone finds out who he is? It’s a small town, people know who Adam is and they respect his privacy. But it is easy money to tell TMZ that Adam Parrish is dating his high school sweetheart Ronan Lynch. 

He needs to talk to Gansey. He’s used to scandals and cover ups due to his mother’s political career and his sisters habits for partying with someone who might be a grandson to a Kennedy. The only scandal Gansey has been apart of in recent years was when he took Blue with him to a Senators gala and she had some choice words for a certain politician. Gansey was quick to ease the situation, “okay, Jane, dear time to go. Lovely to meet you, sir, madam.” 

“Gansey can’t you get your mom to use the secret service to, I don’t know, wipe the internet?”

“That’s not how that works Adam. And I couldn’t even if it did work like that.” Gansey says into his phone. 

“What about the FBI?” He’s pacing now.

“What’s the big deal that people know you have a boyfriend now? You didn’t say it was Ronan Lynch. Everything will die down eventually.” 

“It’s just - people can be so nosy. And I don’t really want my career to be headlined by the fact that I’m gay and have a boyfriend.”

“You’re bi.”

“Ugh, why does that matter right now? I’m dating a guy.”

“Yeah, but you once dated my girlfriend and I will never forget that.” 

“Gansey, you’re not helping.” 

“Here, Jane wants to say something.” The phone shifts a little and then Blue’s bright voice comes on. 

“It was _ so _good! I didn’t watch it live because it was so late but we watched it this morning. Adam, you looked like a pro!”

“Thanks. But did you not notice that I said I have a _ boyfriend? _”

“Yeah I did hear that. Who cares Adam it’s 2019 everyone is gay now.”

“That’s not the point. I don’t really care if people know I like men. It’s just, I don’t want people to start invading my personal life. I didn’t sign up for that part of it all.”

Blue’s quiet for a while. “Ronan would understand if some people start to pry. Besides, you never post a lot of private stuff online now anyways. Just tell your management people that if you have to do interviews that they can’t ask about him. I’m sure really big stars do that all the time.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Blue. I should go, but I’ll see you on Sunday, right?” 

“We wouldn’t miss this for the world Adam! Love you.” She hands the phone back to Gansey. 

“Hey, Adam, I know this probably isn’t the right time to ask but my mother is hosting a party and she’d love it if you and Ronan came. It won’t be publicized. She described it as a ‘small and quaint evening’. Let me know so I can RSVP.”

Once he gets off the phone with Gansey, Adam adds Mrs. Gansey’s event into his phone calendar. They’ve attended a lot of her parties over the years, each one getting easier. The Gansey’s view all of their sons friends as their friends and have always been so supportive of Adam. When Adam was in his first major motion picture they rented out an entire movie theatre in Henrietta and held a screening of it for all of their friends. It was a little embarrassing but Adam cried that night when he got home knowing how many people loved him. He still has to tell himself that his past isn’t an indicator of his future and he has people who love him for him. 

Ronan was in the kitchen making breakfast for the two of them. He usually starts his day at dawn and feeds the cows and chickens, goes into town to get anything from the market that they’d need, and comes home to make a grand breakfast. Adam walks up behind him as he’s scrambling eggs and wraps his arms around his torso and presses kisses into his neck. 

“Morning.” Ronan says, focused on the eggs. 

“Mm. Hi.” Another kiss into his neck. 

“I was talking to Matthew this morning, he said he’ll be down for Sunday so he can watch with all of us. Declan is gonna watch it in DC, he has a big meeting the next morning.” 

“Okay. Should we make a big dinner for everyone?” 

“Are you still on your vegan diet?” He said with a little disgust in his voice. Adam started his new diet after someone from his show had told him about it and how much happier they were. Adam tried it much to Ronan’s despise. 

_ “Why wouldn’t you eat meat? We live on a farm, we have beautiful animals. You don’t want to have a glass of milk again?” _

_ “Ronan, we don’t butcher animals. Stop saying it like we do.” _

“No, I stopped that. It was just for when we were filming. Everyone is vegan out there, it just made it easier for when we’d go out to eat.” 

“Good. Those gorgeous cows work too hard for you to drink oat milk.” Ronan said and placed the eggs onto a plate and handed it to Adam. 

They sat at the big wooden table and ate breakfast as they talked about their day and what they had to do. Adam was basically on a mini vacation right now. He really only had to worry about everyone's reaction to the show and he had to learn some lines for an audition he was going to be going on in a few weeks. 

“Gansey sad his moms having a party that we have to go to.” Ronan says, with his mouth full.

“Yeah, I know. I was talking to him this morning.” Adam pokes at his eggs. 

“Oh?”

Just breathe, Adam. “Yeah. I - this morning there was a lot of stuff online about how I have a boyfriend now. People speculating who you were, and I asked if his mom could get someone to deal with it.” Adam said jokingly, even though he was entirely serious this morning. 

Ronan scoffed. “People are that interested in me, huh? Maybe I should put on a little show.”

“No, Ronan, that’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I just want us to have our own little life without teenagers fixating about it online.” 

“You know, I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to talk about me. Or go public. I don’t do much, just hang around here. It really wouldn’t affect me that much. It’s just you I worry about. I know how much stress you get put under and how crazy people can make you feel.” He reaches out to hold Adams hand, “if it’s too much to keep it a secret I don’t want you to have to worry about it.” 

Adam looks at him, his eyes glossy. “Okay. Thank you. I’ll have to think about it.”

-

This was their Superbowl Sunday. Adam and Ronan had invited all of their friends over to gather around and watch his new show tonight and while they weren’t expecting a huge crowd they planned to feed one. The night before they watched hundreds of cooking videos that promised “easy” and “delicious” finger food appetizers and then ran to the 24 hour grocery store to get all of the ingredients. Adam thought that if they get it done now they could sleep in and not have to worry about cooking for the entire day. Ronan thought he was an idiot. 

This brilliant plan lead them to standing in the kitchen at 3 am trying to wrap pigs in a blanket, making three different kinds of dips, and attempting to make homemade sliders. 

“Adam, I need you to salt this, my hands are all gross and covered in meat.”

“Just wash them, I’m busy trying to roll out the dough.”

“Adam would you fucking salt this? I don’t have time to wash my hands I’m just going to touch the meat again aways.”

“Just salt it after.”

“That’s not what the recipe says to do.”

“Since when do you follow rules?”

“Adam I’m not disrespecting Ina Garten just so you can roll a fucking pig in its little blanket.”

They ended up crashing on the couch with their aprons still on and the mess still in the kitchen. Okay, so they’d have some work to do before their guests arrived. 

-

The gang arrived a few hours before 9 and congratulated Adam. Gansey brought a very expensive bottle of champagne that Adam and Blue rolled their eyes at but Henry backed Gansey up saying it was mandatory. “We can’t just celebrate with cheap champagne, Adam. You’ve made it now.” 

Matthew showed up late because he was driving down from New York where he was going to college. He hugged his brother and gave Adam a fist bump and told him how all his friends were going to watch it back in their dorm even though no one had an HBO account. Ronan and Noah brought in the trays of food to the living room where everyone was sprawled out. Gansey sat on the floor in front of Blue and had one of her legs slung over his shoulder. Matthew, Henry, and Noah sat at the end of the couch. Adam sat next to Ronan who threw his arm around his shoulder and kissed his cheek. 

Once the opening credits started Adam pulled out his phone and took a quick video. When his name came up on the credits everyone cheered loudly and he could hear himself laughing in the background. He posted it to his Instagram story and then put his phone away so he could pay attention. The first episode was excellent and everyone let him know it. He got hundreds of texts and emails. Even one from Declan saying _ congratulations man. Can’t wait to see what else you do. _

Matthew led the charge to clean up the dishes and everyone followed suit. Soon it was 11 and he announced that he needed to get going, Ronan offered for him to stay overnight and just drive back in the morning but he declined because of an important lecture tomorrow morning that he didn’t want to miss. Blue and Gansey we’re going back to Foxway to spend the night and Henry was gonna crash at Noah’s. The house was finally quiet. 

“I’m so proud of you.” Ronan said as Adam climbed into bed. 

“I wouldn’t have been able to do this if it wasn’t for you.”

“Yeah right. There’s no stopping you.” He sat at the end of the bed. 

“I’m serious. I’d go crazy if I didn’t have you to calm me down when I’m going insane in LA.”

“You were so good in that episode. I mean, I didn’t really understand it all but you were amazing.”

Adam grabbed at Ronan’s hand and pulled him close and kissed him gently. Ronan brought his hand up to Adam’s face and opened his mouth. He felt Adam pushing him down on his side of the bed and began to kiss down his neck and tug at his pyjama shirt. 

“You know, this was supposed to be about you.” Ronan growled. 

“Please, let me do this for you.” Adam looked up at him. Ronan could never say no to those eyes. 

-

Fool's Gold premiered with 2.4 million viewers

_ Big ratings. Congrats Adam! I’ll call you later today and set you up with a phone interview for Vulture. _

_ _ \- Renee _ _

It felt like he was on top of the world. His show was a success and he couldn’t stop beaming. Ronan noticed Adam’s smile when he came down for breakfast. 

“I take it everyone loved it?”

“Yes! They’re saying that 2.4 million people watched it last night! That’s so crazy. Today I have to do a phone interview, but I was thinking we could just lay in bed all day. Maybe finish watching our Meryl Marathon?” 

Adam had met Ronan when they were in high school and even though he didn’t have enough money to buy movie tickets and didn’t have a DVD player at home to rent movies he’d always read entertainment magazines at the library or the supermarket. To no one's surprise Ronan had no knowledge when it came to movies unless it had a big car crash and explosions. His favourite movie was Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. It was Adam’s goal to show him every Meryl Streep movie in chronological order. He usually ended up falling asleep but he did cry at _ Out of Africa. _(“Shut the fuck up, Parrish, no I didn’t.”)

“Okay. I have to go out and check the chickens, why don’t you get it set up?” 

Adam went upstairs and pulled out extra blankets and pillows from the hall closet and fluffed up their bed and opened his laptop and select the movie. He saw that on his personal email he had a new notification. 

_ Hey Adam. Long time no talk! Don’t worry, not asking for money or anything now that you’ve made it big lol. Just saw you on TV last night and thought omg that’s Adam Parrish!! I don’t even know if you still use this email but thought I’d give it a try. Anyway, good for you man. I heard you’re still with Ronan. I’m happy for the two of you. _

_ Your friend, _

_ Tad Carruthers _

How did Tad have Adam’s email in the first place? They never talked in high school and Adam didn’t even have an email address. He’s reply to it later, if he even did. 

They ended up watching _ Postcards From the Edge _and Adam had his head in Ronan’s lap with his hand playing with his hair. His hair was getting long, he needed to get it cut. Before he would try to save the money and just do it himself but now his haircut costs him $100. 

An hour into the movie his phone rang and it was a journalist from Vulture. Adam answered it and rolled over so he was facing up, still in Ronan’s lap. 

**Adam, what was your reaction to last night's episode? **

“I was really happy with it. All of my friends came over and we watched together. They were so cool about it and loved it. I’m excited for everyone to see where the show goes.”

**Fool’s Gold has content warnings about drug abuse and sexual content. How did you get into the mind of your character?**

Adam paused. “Um… I did a lot of research on drug addiction and how it can change someone’s entire life. And the lives of those around them. It really put me in a dark spot for a while, especially when filming the heavier scenes. But my costar Rebecca who I did most of my scenes with was so supportive and we were able to lighten up when we weren’t filming.” He looked up at Ronan who was watching him the entire time. “And of course I have my friends and family who would always remind me to come back when I would go a little too deep.”

**So you didn’t bring your character home?**

“God, no. I would be completely miserable if I did that. I mean, I’ve struggled in my life, so I just couldn’t take that character home with me. He was too dark.” 

**You rarely speak about your upbringing, did you use any of your past for inspiration when playing Kyle?**

Adam freezes. He told his publicist that he didn’t want to ever talk about his past. Ronan stroked his cheek when he could tell the interviewer asked a personal question. 

“No. I didn’t. My upbringing was so different from my character so there wasn’t anything to take inspiration from.” 

The interview ended after a few minutes and Adam was no longer in a mood to watch movies all day with his boyfriend. He got out of bed and went into the shower to calm down. 

“Adam? Can I come in?” Ronan asked, knocking on the door. No answer. 

Ronan opens the door and leans against the sink and watched Adam in the shower. The glass is fogged but he can see his figure standing there. Not moving. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Adam says faintly. 

“Okay,” Ronan crosses his arms, “can I come in then?”

“Why?”

“Cause I think we could really nail shower sex this time.”

Adam was silent again. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Yeah I know you’re not in the fucking mood I was just kidding, Parrish. I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready to talk.” 

Adam turns off the shower and sits on the cold, wet tile. His life is so different from how he ever imagined it. He’s happy now, has his own money, his own family. But he still can’t escape his past. His therapist says that he might never escape it but he can move past it. Forgiveness is a big thing they talk about a lot. He’s tried forgiving his parents but he still feels the same every time after he’s done calling them. After his first movie came out, he got a call from his mother congratulating him and saying how his father wants to know how much he got paid. Why does that even matter? That Adam’s net worth was his only value. 

Adam gets out of the shower and puts on his biggest sweater and shorts and walks downstairs to find Ronan sitting on the couch. He sits next to him and doesn’t say anything for a few minutes. 

“I just hate that now I can’t even start over. It’s like I will never be given a fresh start, someone always wants to know the truth about me.” Ronan doesn’t say anything. 

“At Aglionby people knew, at acting school people knew, my agents and managers know. No matter how polished I look and how much I try to lose my stupid Henretta trailer park accent people still know.”

“But people like you for that.” Ronan says softly. “I liked you even when I knew. Just because you came from a shitty house with shitty parents doesn’t mean you’re gonna be shitty. No one looks at you and thinks that. They see you and think you’re talented, and kind, and super sexy.” Adam groans. “You’re going to be so great that no one will even think about your past.” 

“I love you.” Adam hugs him. 

“Wow, _ the _Adam Parrish loves me? I must be doing something right. Think it’s because I cook you meals or because I give such good head?”

“You know, the more you talk the less I love you.” 

-

The Gansey residence was shining in the dark night and was decorated in gorgeous red banners and golden accented decor. The event was hosted mainly for politicians that Mrs. Gansey knew from the Senate but Mr. Gansey had invited some of his business men to mingle. Adam knew he was invited because 1. He was friends with Gansey and 2. Because he was perceived as “famous” and it was a good look to have young people showing interest in politics. Even though Gansey promised this was supposed to be a night free of politics. Ronan and Adam arrived in the BMW both in black suits. As much as Adam hated these events he loved an excuse to see Ronan in a suit and tie. They see Gansey and Blue right away, standing by the bar talking. Blue has a scowl on her face and it looks like Gansey is trying to ease her down from jumping down some ignorant mans throat. She’s wearing a forest green dress with one long sleeve and one short sleeve and it looks like she’s made it herself. Over the years of designing her own clothes she has gotten really good at it. She knows how to proportion her body and even though sometimes she looks a little wild, she always looked good. Gansey looks presidential as always in a navy suit, crisp white shirt, and red tie. He smiles as he see Ronan and Adam approach and uses his index finger to push his glasses up his nose. 

“Thank God you made it.” Blue says to Ronan who looks just as unimpressed to be here. 

Ronan walks towards the bartender and asks for a beer and gets Adam a glass of sparkling water. 

“Thanks for inviting us, Gansey.” Adam says as he takes a sip of his drink. 

“Please, my mom is thrilled that we’re all here. I mean, she loves us as people but she loves the look we give off more. She hasn’t technically announced that she’s running for reelection but I bet after tonight she will.”

“Hurrah,” Ronan says sarcastically leaning against the wall. 

“Oh, and Adam, don’t let people neg you into getting your photo taken with them. You can say no if you want, no one will mind.” Gansey reminds Adam. 

Usually at these events people spot Adam and try to get a picture to post on their website and say “Vote for Me! Endorsed by Adam Parrish!” In the past he usually only takes pictures with young women who are clearly fans of his movies or when Mrs. Gansey approaches and charms her way into a photograph. 

“Don’t worry, I can handle this.” 

“And if they don’t leave you alone send them to me and I’ll show them where they can stick it.” Ronan says. Adam rolls his eyes. 

Before they can say anything else Mrs. Gansey is trotting around the Governor of Virginia and she spots the young gang.

“Oh, darling, you remember Governor Warner?” She looks at Gansey and puts her hand on his shoulder. “Governor, this is my son Richard, his lovely girlfriend Blue,” Gansey shakes his and and Blue puts on her best fake smile, “and Richard’s two best friends Ronan and Adam. You might recognize Adam from the movies. He’s a true Virginia boy, though.” 

Adam reaches and shakes his hand and says hi. Mrs. Gansey can sense the cool vibe from the group and keeps moving along with the Governor. 

“See, Gansey, this is why we could never get married, I don’t want to have to come to something like this ever again. These people are the worst. He doesn’t care about us, if he did, he'd fix all of the problems in this community.” Blue can feel herself get worked up. 

“Jane, please, you know I hate doing this as much as you do.” Gansey places his hand on the middle of her back. 

Ronan turns to Adam with a smile and says, “gosh, Adam, I didn’t recognize you from the movies I only recognized you from my dreams.”

“You’re such an ass.”

  


The party went on and the four tried to stick together for as long as they could. Gansey kept get dragged away by one of his parents to greet their friends and play the role of the All American son. Adam got pulled away from the group at some point getting asked questions about how he can use his platform to get the messages he cares about across to his fans. At a certain point Adam zones out from the conversation and zones in on Ronan who is across the room still talking to Blue. They’re leaning against the bar looking absolutely fed up. Adam takes in how good Ronan looks in his suit, his shaved head and sharp jaw makes him look dangerous but his white collared shirt makes his eyes pop. Adam excuses himself from the older couple talking to him. 

“Ronan, can I talk to you in private?” Adam asks and guides him by his elbow into a back room and closes the door. 

“What’s going on-” Ronan asks as he’s pushed against the door, keeping it closed. 

Adam attacks his exposed neck with his lips and loosens his tie and starts to unbutton his dress shirt. 

“Woah,” Ronan pants “something’s got you horny.”

“Please,” Adam says looking up from where he was sucking his neck, “shut up.” 

“Make me.”

Adam unbuttons enough of his shirt to lick Ronan’s nipple into his mouth. Ronan leans his head against the door and swears to someone holy. 

-

Gansey is looking around for where Ronan and Adam wandered off to, his hand in Blue’s.

“They’re probably out back somewhere walking around. Or upstairs making out.” Gansey scofs. “That’s actually a good idea, those bastards. Gansey how come you’ve never taken me to your childhood bedroom to make out?” Blue asks and leans into Gansey’s chest. 

“Not now, Jane. My parents are here and literally everyone I’ve known since I was a boy.” Once he looks back up from Blue he sees Ronan leading Adam out of the back room.

“Where were you two?” Gansey demands. “You missed the pictures.”

“We were busy.” Ronan snaps. 

“Well I don’t appreciate you two leaving without telling me where. It’s a big property, you could get lost.”

“We didn’t go far.” Adam informs him. 

“Ugh, you two are so gross. If you’re going to have sex at least try to make it less obvious. Not everyone is going to get lucky tonight.” Blue says as she crosses her arms.

“Ronan, did you..._ fornicate _ in my family home?” Gansey asks under his breath. 

“Gansey I’m not talking to you about my sex life, okay?” Ronan says and takes Adam’s hand again. “We have to go now anyway.”

“Tell your mom thanks, Gansey. We’ll see you guys later.” Adam says and hugs Blue and Gansey goodbye. 

The two walk out the huge front doors and get back into the BMW. Adam closes his eyes once he’s in and Ronan fiddles with the radio trying to find a signal. Once he pulled out of the long driveway he roars onto the highway, heading back to the barns. 

“Can we stop somewhere?” Adam asks quietly.

“Where? Want another late night fuck on the side of the road?” Ronan looks over at him.

Adam blushes. “No, I want a milkshake.”

Ronan takes his left hand of the wheel to loosen his tie. Stupid thing. Then he pulls off the highway and goes to the closest drive thru. He orders two chocolate milkshakes, a large fry, and mozzerella sticks. 

“Ronan, I only said I wanted a milkshake.” 

“Yeah? Who said I was gonna share with you?” 

Adam makes him pull into the parking lot and makes him take a picture of him for his Instagram. He’s illuminated by the car headlights, looking impeccable in his suit, sipping from his milkshake. He posts it captioning it “_ Don’t know if you’ve heard but my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.” _

-

@jessiek419: omfg look how hot adam looks here!! and i think that’s his boyfriend next to him *heart eyes* 

@lunaruths: @jessiek419 my mom was at that event! She said they held hands the entire time and wouldn’t leave each other’s side. Love them #adamparrish

The photo was of Adam and Ronan at Mrs. Gansey’s party. Someone had snapped a shot of Ronan leaning in to whisper something in Adam’s good ear with his hand pressed to his back. Adam was smiling in the picture. At least he looked nice, couldn’t complain about that. But he could complain that now people online knew what the side of Ronan’s head looked like. 

“Ronan look,” Adam says to Ronan who’s sitting next to him reading an agricultural magazine, “people are shipping us.” 

“I don’t know what that means.” Ronan deadpanned. 

“Someone took a picture of us at that party and posted it and now people on twitter are saying we look like a good couple.” 

Ronan takes the phone from Adam’s hand and inspects the picture. “You look good there.” 

“Careful, don’t touch anything. I don’t want you to like it by accident.” 

“I’m not a tool, Parrish. I know how to work things, I’ve had a cell phone way longer than you, remember?” Ronan hands the phone back. 

“Well it would be nice if you actually knew how to use it and respond to texts and calls.”

“I respond to you all the time.”

“The last thing you said to me over text was when I sent you that picture of me in the chicken coop and you asked if we were sexting.” And pulls up the message as proof. 

“I was in public, I needed to know if I had to come home right away.” 

“Why would I sext you in the chicken coop?” 

“Parrish you never sext me. It was just wishful thinking.”

-

The next few weeks go by and Adam feels like he’s on top of the world. The reviews for Fool’s Gold have been positive and his agent said that she’s been getting calls daily about him and is getting offers like crazy. She’s set up a few small interviews with a couple of magazines to ease him into the “household name” status. Adam has to fly out to LA for two weeks to do a cover shoot with his costar Rebecca Jacobson, attend a fashion event for a new young brand, and do a few auditions for some smaller indie films. 

“And it’s just good to get you out there and spotted, people forget about you when you’re hiding away in Virginia. We can’t lose this momentum that’s coming from the show. I have someone asking about getting you in a Marvel movie. This is big, Adam! Go to a few events, maybe a few paparazzi pictures. Keep it casual. We don’t want you to be scandalous.” Renee told him on their skype call. 

“Okay, I can do that. Send me the dates so I can tell Ronan.” 

“You know, it’d be good to get him out here with you. I know how lonely you get but also people online have been speculating about this _ boyfriend _ of yours for weeks. Give the people a taste of what they want. Or even start to post him more on your social.” 

“I don’t know. Ronan’s a private person. He doesn’t want anyone digging around about him. He’s got brothers that he’s worried about. I don’t want to have to pressure him into doing anything for my job. Can’t I just bring Blue with me? Won’t that spark up some rumours if I’m spotted with some girl?” Adam suggested. 

“No, because you’ve already disclosed that you at one point dated her for a very short amount of time and now she’s happily dating your friend, Gamby.”

“It’s Gansey.”

“Just talk to Ronan about it. Let me know.” She hangs up. 

He already gets an incoming email detailing the dates of the flight, times, and the locations of all the events he needs to attend. He goes to add them to his calendar when he sees that on the Thursday of his first week away is already marked down on his phone as _ ANNIVERSARY!!!!. _Shit. 

Adam leaves the guest bedroom, which he’s semi transformed into an office, and sees Ronan walking back from the barns. This won’t go over well. Ronan’s sweaty from lifting hay bales and his cheeks are flushed. He opens the refrigerator and takes out his bottle of water, gulping it down. 

“Hey,” Adam says leaning on the kitchen island, “I need to talk to you about something.”

“‘Kay,” Ronan mumbles and wipes the sweat off his forehead with his black tank top, revealing his toned stomach. 

“Good news - the show has been such a hit Renee says she’s got a lot of people lined up dying to meet me. I’m going to go to LA and do some auditions, go to a few events, just to keep my name circulating.” Ronan nods. “Bad news - I’m going to be gone for two weeks and I’m going to miss our anniversary.” Ronan rolls his eyes. 

“Parrish.” He groans. 

“I’m sorry! You know I’d never want to leave but it’s important. I swear I’ll make this up to you. Maybe we can celebrate it early.” Adam looks at him pleading with his eyes. 

“Two weeks you’re going to be gone?” He sets his water down. Adam nods. “Well, I guess you have to do what you have to do.” 

“Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad, I’m just...disappointed.” Ronan turns and starts to walk upstairs, probably to take a shower. Adam thinks it’s to get away from him. 

That night they order in Chinese food and talk about everything except Adam’s trip. About Declan getting a promotion at work, how Matthew will finally be graduating college next year, Gansey and Blue moving back to New York City in the fall after spending the spring and summer here to be with her family. 

Adam’s in bed reading a book that his director recommend for him to read about overcoming addiction. He never got to finish it because it was too much for him but he doesn’t want to lay there and invite Ronan to ask questions about his trip that he knows he can’t answer. He’s expecting the “do you love this job more than me?” or “am I not important to you anymore?” But it never comes. 

Instead Ronan climbs into bed and rests his head on Adam’s chest and says, “I want to go with you.” 

“You? Want to go to LA? You know I have to work. And go to a few events.” Adam puts his book down, shocked. 

“Yeah. I don’t want to miss our anniversary again. I want to be with you for it. Last year was such a shit show.” 

Adam was away filming last year. It was a 16 hour day and he was exhausted by the time he got back to his AirBnB but he still Facetime’d Ronan. That was their first and only experience of phone sex. Adam ended up falling asleep naked, sprawled across his bed. Ronan didn’t hang up so he could fall asleep to the sound of Adam breathing. 

“Alright. That’s - that would be great. I’ll call Renee tomorrow morning and get her to book you a ticket.” Adam smiles and runs his hand over Ronan’s head. “You don’t have to stay for the whole two weeks either, if you miss the cows-”

“Shut up, Parrish, I’m trying to be romantic.” Ronan says and kisses him. 

-

Teen Vogue's 5 Things I Can't Live Without: Adam Parrish Edition

  1. I’ve recently really got into skincare. I was so bad at it forever and finally someone told me how dry my skin is so I love this moisturizer. 
  2. I really love these sunglasses. My stylist picked them out for me for a photo shoot a few weeks ago and I got to keep them. They’re super cool. 
  3. My cell phone. Pretty obvious. I didn’t have one as a teenager but now I can’t live without it. My lock screen is a photo of my boyfriend. 
  4. I love these headphones for travelling. They are great for cancelling out noise. 
  5. My Latin textbook from high school. Kinda dorky but I love Latin and I always like to keep learning even though it’s a dead language. 

-

It’s been years since Ronan’s been on an airplane, his parents were still alive then. They took the boys on a trip to Ireland so Niall could show them his roots. Ronan was 14 and he loved it. The landscapes, the food, the way people spoke. It was all exciting to him. His dad looked happy too, getting to flaunt his wife and beautiful sons. He remembers the family picture that Declan eventually took to put in his office of the five of them. Ronan had curly hair, Matthew was missing his front tooth, Declan was standing between mom and dad. Everyone was happy. 

Adam places his hand on Ronan’s forearm that was resting on the arm rest. “You okay?” 

Ronan, still looking out the small plane window lost in thought said “Yeah. Just...thinking about mom and dad.” 

Adam rubbed his arm and listened to the story he’s heard a million times before. The Ireland story. Ronan was always so happy to tell it. He never got to meet Ronan’s parents but by the time he was finished telling the story it felt like he knew them. 

“So what do you normally do on here? You’re the expert at flying now.” 

“Usually I read scripts. Or sleep. Or listen to music.” 

Ronan’s pressing the buttons on the small tv in front of him. “Hey, do you think any of your movies will be in here?” 

“I don’t know. Don’t be embarrassing.” Adam covers his face. 

“What? Don’t want people to see you watching your own work?” Ronan smirks at him. 

“Yes! You’re being annoying.” Adam whines. 

“Well, god Parrish, looks like the only thing left to do is join the mile high club.” Adam gives him death glares. 

“Do you know how disgusting plane bathrooms are? I don’t want to get any disease on this trip.” 

“I’m sure we’ve done it in a grosser spot. Remember when Henry had that party after your graduation?”

“Ronan there is a child literally 3 feet away from you. Shut _ up.” _

-

The Los Angeles air was warm against Ronan’s skin as his arm hung out the window of the black SUV that was taking them from the airport to their rented house. Adam was busy on his phone trying to return text messages and set up plans to meet some of his cast members while he was here. Adam told him that he was invited to everything he had to go to and he’d love to be able to introduce him to his cast. Ronan wasn’t sold yet. The only thing he really wanted to do was go to a market Saturday morning and see their fresh produce. 

“Tonight there is a dinner I have to go to at some place called Craig’s. Do you want to come?” Adam put his phone down. 

“I don’t know, I don’t want to get in the way of any business you have to do.” 

“It’s not really business tonight. Renee wants me to go because this place is always has people there taking pictures and she wants it to be _ known _that I’m in LA.”

“Okay, I’ll go.” Ronan shrugs. Adam turns to look at him with a smile.

“Really? Awesome! Oh my God, Rebecca will not believe that I got you to come to LA _ and _go out for dinner with us.” Adam goes back to his phone to text away. 

The restaurant doesn’t seem as luxurious as Ronan was expecting it to be. The doors weren’t gold plated and he hasn’t seen any big stars yet. Or maybe he has but he hasn’t noticed them. Everyone here looks the same, skinny, tan, blonde hair, blinding white teeth, always cold to the touch. He hates it. Adam’s hands are never cold. 

A few people are already sitting at the table when they arrive, they look young and it looks like they’re wearing workout clothes. Adam tells him that it’s athleisure and it costs thousands. Ronan’s wearing a pair of his favourite black jeans and a black tshirt. Adam has on a pair of grey trousers and a crisp white shirt. He greets the table with a huge smile.

They all shout, “Adam!” 

Adam slides into the booth and hugs the man sitting next to him, reaches across the table to hold a woman's hand, and waves his fingers at the girl sitting across from him. 

“Everyone, this is my boyfriend Ronan. Ronan, this is Mark, Jules, and Rebecca.”

Ronan sits and nods a hello at everyone. He shouldn’t be here. 

“Ronan, I was beginning to believe you didn’t exist.” Rebecca said and leaned her chin into her hand that was resting on the table. 

“Adam kept leaving when we’d be on set to take a call and at first it was charming but then we started to think he didn’t like us.” Mark said and winked at Adam. 

“Nope, he’s real.” Adam said and looked up at Ronan. 

“I don’t know why you’d hide him Adam, he’s gorgeous.” Jules says as she takes a sip of her red wine. 

The dinner could have gone more smoothly. Adam tried to make up for Ronan’s lack of conversation by telling them about the farm and how they met. Jules asked if they were going to get married and Adam’s cheeks went red and Ronan scoffed. Then Adam and Rebecca made plans to meet up at the fashion show they had to go to and maybe grab dinner again before Adam went back to Virginia. Mark kept looking over at Ronan, taking in his quiet demeanor. 

By the end of the dinner, Mark said, “I like you man. You don’t give a fuck about anything. What a breath of fresh air.” Ronan’s face didn’t change. “So many people here will change themselves like _ that _,” he snapped when he said it, “just to make it or to impress one person. You seem like a good dude. I’m happy for you, Adam.” 

When they were waiting for their car in the valet the paparazzi were taking endless amounts of pictures. Ronan was holding Adam’s hand and once their car pulled up he guided Adam to the car, opened the door for him, and then got into the drivers side. Adam wouldn’t shut up about how great the dinner went, how funny his castmates were, how this would be an amazing two weeks, how thrilled he was that Ronan was with him. 

The next morning Renee forwarded him an article from TMZ that said 

Adam Parrish looking cozy with new beau!

-

The bright lights were hot against his skin as the camera lens clicked away in his ear. Adam stood behind Rebecca with his arms wrapped around her body. He was in a denim jacket and shirtless underneath. Rebecca was in a white dress shirt that was open. They were posing for PAPER Magazine, a cover story about their new show. Adam was thankful that he didn’t have to do this alone. He’s embarrassed enough to be on a magazine without a shirt on. Once the director called it a wrap on their shoot Adam and Rebecca went to the makeup station to clean their faces and change back into their own clothes. 

“What are your plans for tonight? Carlos is going to this new club opening, want to go?” Rebecca asked him as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. 

“I can’t, it’s Ronan’s and mine anniversary tonight so we’re going out for dinner.” Adam smiles. 

“Aw, how sweet. How many years have you been together?”

“Six years. Since high school.”

“Damn, and you haven’t put a ring on that yet? He’s hot, Adam. Don’t let him get away.” 

“Stop it, I know how hot he is.” 

“I bet your sex life is like, totally insane. Two, sexy guys -” Rebecca starts. 

“Oh my god! That’s so inappropriate! Shut up!” He throws a makeup wipe at her. 

“What? I’m sorry, but it’s hard not to think about. We’ve kissed in the show, I know how good of a kisser you are. And you probably weren’t even trying then.” 

“You’re the worst.” Adam says and covers his face. 

-

Ronan told Adam that he wanted to plan their anniversary dinner which Adam obliged. He chose an Italian restaurant that wasn’t too far from where they were staying and he saw the Yelp reviews were mostly positive. He called and told them that he needed a very private table for two people and that it was their anniversary tonight so don’t fuck anything up. 

“Wow, this place looks nice.” Adam said as he sat at their table, reaching for Ronan’s hand. 

“I hope this is just Hollywood enough for you.” 

“This is perfect. The whole fame thing gets exhausting after awhile. I love acting but having to go out for appearances and interviews? Just leave me alone. Let me be with my boyfriend and our cows and our chickens.” Adam teased. 

“Boyfriend…” Ronan said under his breath. 

“What was that?” Adam said, perking up. 

“You said ‘boyfriend’”

“Yeah,” Adam said, confused, “that’s what you are. You’re my boyfriend. I’m your boyfriend.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be that anymore.” He said, softly. 

A look of fear crosses Adam’s face. “Are you… are you trying to break up with me?” He let’s go of Ronan’s hand. 

“No, _ Jesus fuck, _ I want… more.” Ronan is looking at him, refusing to look away. 

“Like… marriage?” Adam says that word like it’s a swear and he’s in church. Ronan just keeps staring at him. 

Their waiter comes and offers them the wine list, they decline and just ask for waters and some time to look over the menu. 

“I’ve always wanted to get married.” Ronan tells him. 

“Ronan, it’s not that I don't _ want _ to get married, it’s just we’re so young. I - I feel like I have so much more to accomplish before I settle down.”

“Who said anything about settling down? Fuck Parrish, I don’t want you to be some kind of kept man. I just want to be able to marry my boyfriend. So then we’re husbands.” Ronan’s ears are going red now. He didn’t think he’d have to sell this to Adam. 

“So is this some kind of proposal, then?” 

“No. I just wanted to talk about it. If I proposed tonight you’d probably say no.” 

“I would not!” Adam sounds offended. “I’m just surprised.”

“Why? We’ve been together for six years, didn’t you ever think about it? About our future? If we’d live at the barns forever? How many kids we’d have?” 

Adam’s eyes widen. “You think about having kids with me?” 

“Yeah, sometimes. You’d be a good dad.” 

“I’d be scared shitless to be a dad. I didn’t really have a good example.” 

“That doesn’t matter,” Ronan’s thumb rubs Adam’s hand, “neither did I. I think we’d be good parents.” 

“If we have kids I’d want to raise them at the barns. Away from all of this. And I wouldn’t want to travel a lot. Or else you’d have to bring them out to visit me.” 

“I could do that.” Ronan smiles. 

Their waiter returns with their drinks and takes their order. 

  


In Virginia, Gansey woke sometime past midnight to his phone ringing. He rolled over, getting his arm free from where Blue was laying on it, seeing that it was his sister calling. 

“Helen?” Gansey asks, voice heavy with sleep.

“Dick, have you heard from your friend Adam?” She asks seriously. 

“What? What’s going on?” He looks at the time, “Helen its past midnight, what’s the matter?”

“Someone posted some article about his shithole dad. A friend of mine just sent it to me, it’s... ” she didn’t finish her sentence which made Gansey’s mind run wild of how bad this could be. 

“Shit. Okay, thanks for telling me. I’m gonna call Adam.” He hangs up and immediately calls Adam, then he hangs up thinking maybe he should warn Ronan first. 

“What’s going on?” Blue asks, sitting up. 

“Someone wrote an article about Adam’s dad. Helen says it’s bad. I’m trying to call him to see if he knows.”

Back in California Adam and Ronan we’re finishing they’re dinner. He could hear Ronan’s phone ringing nonstop. 

“Are you going to answer your phone?” He asks. 

“Why would I do that?” Ronan says, eating a piece of his dessert. 

“It sounds like it’s been ringing a lot. What if it’s Matthew or Declan?” Ronan rolls his eyes and takes his phone out of his pocket and sees that it’s Gansey. 

“What, Dick?” He answers. 

“Are you with Adam right now?” He demands. 

“Yeah, we’re at dinner. Why?”

“Helen just called me. She said that someone wrote an article about Adam’s dad. I haven’t read it yet but it didn’t sound great.”

“What?” Ronan yells into the phone and then looks up at Adam to see his reaction. He looks very confused by whoever is on the other end of the phone call. 

“I thought I should tell you first. I didn’t want Adam to do anything stupid.” Gansey admits. 

“Yeah, I’ll. I’ll deal with it. Thanks for letting me know.” He hangs up. “Let’s go,” he says to Adam and stands. 

“What’s wrong?” He looks nervous and stands with him. 

“I’ll tell you in the car.” Ronan says cooly. 

“No, what’s wrong?” Adam stops walking. 

“I’ll tell you in the _ car. _ Now, let’s _ go. _” Ronan says as quiet and as calmly as he can. He doesn’t want to cause a scene in the restaurant. 

Adam, confused, takes Ronan’s hand and follows him to the car. A few people waiting outside ask for his picture but Ronan tells them no and opens the door for Adam, waving him to get in the car. 

“That was rude, Ronan.” Adam says to him once he gets in the car. 

“Look, I need you to listen to me okay, it’s going to be alright, okay? I’m going to deal with this. You don’t need to worry about this, okay?” Ronan says as Adam’s phone immediately starts to blow up with texts and calls. 

“What’s going on? Ro, you’re scaring me.”

“I haven’t seen anything yet, but Gansey said Helen called him to tell him that some article was written about your dad.” He says bluntly. 

Adam could vomit. He feels his stomach drop and his hands start to shake. He can’t control his body. 

“Is this some kind of joke?” He demands. 

“No, Adam, I - I promise I’m going to deal with this. Please -”

“Oh my god. Oh my god.” Adam starts to pant. “I’m gonna be sick,” he says as he gets another phone call. 

Ronan pulls the car over and Adam leans out the car and vomits. 

-

Fool's Gold star Adam Parrish's Nasty Past, Tell All From His Father!

_ Robert Parrish, 54, has spoken out for the first time about his estranged son. Calling in from Henrietta, Virginia where he and his wife still live, only 45 minutes away from where Adam reportedly lives with his long-time boyfriend, Ronan. _

_ “Adam was never appreciative of his mother and me,” he says with a gruff thick accent. “The things we did for him, the sacrifices we made, he went to a very rich school that made him think he was all of a sudden better than us.” _

_ Mrs. Parrish can be heard sniffling in the background of the call. “It breaks her heart that he left us. Never calls us, never visits. The only way we see him is when he’s in movies now. It’s like he is too famous to talk to his dear old dad.” _

_ We speak to Robert about what his life is like now, not speaking to his son. He says it’s hard because he and his wife are living in a trailer park and Adam has enough money to help them out. _

_ “We get sick, we can’t afford health care. It’s like he’s just waiting it out, waiting for us to go. You know, he got his boyfriend,” (his use of the word ‘boyfriend’ makes it seem he is not supportive of Adam’s sexuality) “to hit me one time. I got a broken nose, face all bloody, he was like a madman. Scared my wife to death, scared all the neighbours. And for what?” _

_ It sounds like Adam’s past was very violent, so different from how he appears now. We’ve reached out to Adam’s team for further comments but have not heard anything from them. Will update as needed. _

-

“Adam, we need to put out a story. The true story, people will run with this if we don’t stop them.” His publicist Edwin says. “Even if it’s just a paragraph. We need to go to a publication for this, it can’t be a screenshot from your note app. This needs to be settled quickly.” 

Adam, numb, hasn’t moved from his spot on the couch for the past hour. Ronan has been in and out of the room taking phone calls for Adam, trying to find his patience, and thinking of how to respond. 

“He’s right,” Ronan says, holding the cell phone. Edwin is on speaker. “We can’t let your dad get away with this. He doesn’t just get to paint himself as a victim.”

“Adam, I know this sounds awful, but do you have by chance any photos from when your father hit you?” Edwin asks bluntly. 

“No,” Adam mumbles, “I never - I was so ashamed of that. I always hid them.” 

“There was a court case though,” Ronan adds, “isn’t that public record? Can’t people see that we’ve pressed charges? How come no one dug that up?

“I’m going to get my people to start looking for those, in the meantime I’m going to write a quick message and send it over to you two to review it. The sooner this goes out the better. For now, Adam please don’t respond to anything okay? We want to handle this as smoothly as possible, we need people to know that _ you _ were the one that was abused. That _ you _left because of him.” Edwin hangs up. 

“This is my nightmare. Now anyone that looks at me is gonna think ‘oh Adam Parrish, he’s that asshole to his parents’ or once we come out with it it’ll be ‘Adam Parrish, the boy that’s broken’.” He sniffs. 

“People won’t think that.” 

“How do you know?” Adam’s angry. Why can’t he just feel bad for himself, why is everyone trying to save him?

“Because I knew you when your dad was beating you and I never thought that. I thought ‘Jesus fuck I could murder that guy’, I thought ‘how the fuck is Parrish working three jobs just to put himself through shitty Aglionby?’ I thought ‘if Adam and I both have shitty father’s how come he’s so much better than me?’”

“Ronan, stop. You’re - I’m not better than you. You’re so perfect.” Adam reaches for him.

“I’m only perfect because I want to be perfect for you. Do you know how terrified I get when I think that you’re going to find someone who’s just as smart as you, just as talented, the perfect match for you. And for you to think ‘why the hell am I with Lynch when I could be with this guy?’ It’s scary. I’m scared that one day you’ll wake up and leave. Whenever you go to California and I’m in fucking Virgina? Gansey and Blue left, Noah left, fuck even Cheng left. All I have is my family, and if you were to leave too. I -”

Adam stops him by kissing him slowly. “Shut up, please. I - don’t think that. I’d never leave you. Do you know how much of a mess I’d be without you? I’d never find someone else perfect for me because I already have you. And I’m going to marry you. And then we’ll legally be bound to each other. Forever. So don’t ever think that again, okay?” Adam’s holding his face in his hands. Ronan leans into it. 

“Okay.” 

-

“Adam, Blue and I can fly out if you need, or if you want to stay with us when you come back. Whatever you need, we’re here for you.” Gansey told him over the phone. 

“Thanks, we’re just trying to sort everything out now. Tell your sister thanks for the warning, Gansey. We really appreciated it.” 

“Adam I would have done anything to prevent your father from saying something to the press. Especially those lies. We all know the truth and we can say whatever you need.”

Adam’s publicist was already working on forwarding his comments to publication that put out his father’s article. He never envisioned a world that would know his deepest darkest secrets. He never envisioned that he would be known as hard of hearing to the general public. That they would know Ronan hit his father, but his father hit him. That’s something he would never forget, and now the world wouldn’t forget either. 

“I’m just ready to move past this,” he tells Ronan when he comes down from their room. “I need to get this out so I can go back to my normal life. If people want to view me differently now then that’s their problem. I can’t live my life in fear of my father.” 

“I’m proud of you,” Ronan said and pulled him into a hug. “You’re so strong. No matter what your dad says, people will believe you.” 

-

Adam Parrish’s career has been a steady climb since he broke out into the scene in 2016 with his scene stealing role in_ Game On. _ As much as he’s tried to keep his private life private, some skeletons don’t stay in the closet forever. When I first met Adam he was back in LA doing press for the HBO smash hit _ Fool’s Gold _, today I’m visiting him at his home in Virginia on the farm he shares with his husband.

**Adam, the last time we spoke was before Fool’s Gold came out, before your Emmy win, what’s changed since then?**

Well, I definitely feel comfortable in the space I’m in today. When I was starting out I questioned a lot what my ability was, if I was good enough to be working in this industry, when it would all end. But now I realize my worth, my talent, and I’m happy where I am. My therapist says it’s not a bad thing to say how talented you are. I feel like it’s a really taboo thing to talk about because people can perceive you as you being an egomaniac. But, for me, it has been an important part of my growth to hear that from myself. 

**You definitely seem to be more comfortable on and off screen. Has there been a life changing role for you?**

I feel like a lot of the characters I play are so different from me. In _ Acounts of Time _coming out later this month, I play a gay rights lawyer and that was such an imporant role for me. I never really thought about my sexuality. Was I gay, straight, bi? I just knew who I loved and who I wanted to be with. I’ve been with Ronan since forever - it’s never felt like I had to “come out”. But reading the script and seeing peoples very personal stories about their coming out, the rights they’ve had taken away from them. It was very moving. I’ll never take for granted my rights, my marriage. 

**This movie has a lot of Oscar buzz surrounding it. What has your reaction to that been?**

I’m very flattered. It was such an honour to be able to tell this story, so for so many people to see it and connect with it is so important. I know everyone says this but I never really do anything for the awards that come with it. I’m very lucky to be where I am. 

**Will your husband come with you to any upcoming award shows?**

(Laughs) I don’t know! He came with me to the Emmy’s the year that I won. That was really nice to have him there for that. I’d like him too, but this sort of thing isn’t what he’s used to. I’m so lucky to have him and his support though. 

**Finally, how does it feel to be a voice of standing up for child abuse. Your charity Cabeswater helps thousands of abused children in Virginia, you must be proud to be apart of something like that.**

I never wanted anyone to know I was being abused by my father. It was my dirty secret, even though the marks on my face and body were so visible. My friends in high school tried their best to get me out of that house and to keep me safe. But, I was too stubborn. I want children and teens to know that it’s not their fault, they aren’t worthless, and that the abuse can stop. Cabeswater is so close to my heart because it takes in children and teens and helps protect them from their abusers and provides them with safe and loving people to protect them. If I’m remembered for one thing, I hope it’s this.

**Author's Note:**

> god bless pynch


End file.
